In order to enable incontinence protectors to receive large amounts of momentarily emitted urine is it advantageous that the protector has a bowl shape. Such a bowl functions as a temporary storage space during the time it takes for the emitted urine to be sucked into the absorbent core of the protector. Many incontinence protectors are for this reason provided with elastic elements in order to give the protector its desired bowl shape, see for example WO 97/17922 A1. Another way of providing a temporary storage space and at the same time enhance the ability of a protector to store absorbed liquid in a portion thereof distal from the body of the wearer is to provide a hole in the absorbent layer closest to the body of the wearer, see for example WO 2005/065611 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,053.
Incontinence protectors and the like absorbent articles are usually packaged in a folded and planar state. Such products do normally not have the desired bowl shape when taken out of the package and consequently the user has to shape the article to the desired bowl shape before it is applied. After such shaping of the article, the elastic elements will maintain the bowl shape during use of the article.
It is an objective of the present invention to create an absorbent article of the above mentioned kind which by itself creates a desired bowl shape when taken out of its package. It is also an objective of the invention to create such an article in which the absorbent core is close to the user's body when the article is applied.